For Christians Only: Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Medieval Studies

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the European and American founders of Medieval Studies shaped the discipline according to their own biases, which privileged a view of the Middle Ages centered in Europe as a predominantly Christian area. At the same time, as Carol Symes has written, those medievalists often worked in the service of projects such as “white supremacism, the ‘scientific’ racialization of slavery, and modern European imperialism.”Despite later recognition of the essential diversity and interdependence of ethnic and cultural groups across the Mediterranean, as well as the crucial role played by Jews and Muslims in medieval Europe, the prejudices of many of our academic ancestors against non-Christians continue influencing directly or indirectly the canon of medieval readings, our disciplinary approaches, and some of our central debates. This situation is increasingly concerning due to the ongoing appropriation of medieval symbols and elements by white supremacists, who base their nostalgia for (and weaponization of) an exclusively Christian Europe on the misguided rhetoric of former generations of medievalists.

This session will analyze the antisemitism and Islamophobia in the discourses of past medievalists, as well as their impact in our field until today. We welcome presentations that connect the past biases of our discipline with its present challenges, and that reflect on the ways to address and overcome this problematic heritage in both our research and our teaching. We are also seeking studies that focus on new approaches and directions in the field.

If you’d like to submit an abstract for this session, please email it directly to the session organizer before January 1, 2020.

Understanding Emotions in Iberian Cultures

In the recent decades, the multidisciplinary study of emotions has increasingly taken the spotlight. From a historical perspective, emotions can be seen as embedded in social and cultural experiences, as socially constructed practices reflective of distinctive ways of existing, being, thinking and/or passing evaluation within a specific group and society. This panel seeks to explore how emotions were understood and articulated in medieval texts in Iberia and how current research on emotions can become a productive approach to delve deeply into a text, a specific period or a conflict, and/or an issue.

Submissions might focus on the following areas of inquiry (but do not need to be limited to):

-Different dimensions of affective methodologies and comparison of different theories of emotions (for instance, medieval, early modern, and/or contemporary); challenges in the study of emotions.

-How does the study of emotions illuminate different areas such as medicine, work, power and politics, religion, etc.? How does it intersect with other areas of research, such as rhetoric, gender studies, mental disabilities, and/or convivencia studies?

If you’d like to submit an abstract for this session, please email it directly to the session organizer before January 1, 2020.

The Legacy of Álvaro de Luna

Don Álvaro de Luna (c. 1390-1453)—politician, warrior, and man of letters and propaganda, both exemplary figure and tyrant—is a crucial and controversial figure during the reign of Juan II. Undoubtedly, his own life—that of “the greatest uncrowned man of his time,” as pointed out by scholar Nicholas Round—and his awe-inspiring death (with his head publicly hung on a pike in the square of Valladolid) have helped generate an immense corpus in popular and scholarly literature.

Abstracts are invited in order to explore the cultural and political legacy of don Álvaro de Luna across the early modern period. Special emphasis will be given to those papers that can lead to reassess Álvaro de Luna´s literary, political and social significance more accurately or throw light on less well-known aspects of his figure and times, his work and his impact.

If you’d like to submit an abstract for this session, please email it directly to the session organizer before January 1, 2020.

The Power of Books and Libraries

In an age when the humanities are under fire, the question on how to gain essential knowledge from texts and libraries is not an outdated topic. This session seeks to explore how texts were experienced, read, used, and what libraries can tell us about learning practices, social groups and cultural issues before the impact of the printing press had fully modified conditions (ca. 1521-1530). Special attention will be given to the moment when the spread of literacy and libraries amongst the non-professional laity—as Jeremy Lawrance explained—culminated in the rise of a new reading public.

Submissions may focus on the following areas of inquiry (but do not need to be limited to):

the formation, content or inventory, use, and/or social impact of libraries; comparison between different libraries;

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